Information processing device, information processing system, and information processing method

ABSTRACT

An information processing device, an information processing system, and a method of processing an operation request to any one of a plurality of types of apparatuses connected to a network. The information processing device and the method include detecting the plurality of types of apparatuses connected to the network, receiving an operation request that does not depend on the type of the apparatus, directed to any one of the plurality of types of the apparatuses detected in the detecting, and causing the apparatus to execute processing corresponding to the operation request via an interface corresponding to each type of apparatus. The information processing system includes the plurality of types of apparatuses and the information processing device connected to the apparatuses via the network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-176524, filed onSep. 14, 2017, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, aninformation processing system, and a method to simplify the use of aplurality of types of apparatuses.

Background Art

In offices and the like, a variety of apparatuses, such as apparatusesrelated to image formation such as a printer, a copier, or amultifunction peripheral, and apparatuses supporting communication suchas an electronic whiteboard, a video conference system, a projector, adigital signage, and the like are used.

Each apparatus has a unique application program interface (API), inorder to enable construction of a solution suitable for the user.Software developers can develop programs to provide the solution to theuser by using the API of each apparatus.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide aninformation processing device, an information processing system, and amethod to simplify the use of a plurality of types of apparatuses. Theinformation processing device and the method include detecting aplurality of types of apparatuses connected to a network, receiving anoperation request that does not depend on the type of the apparatus, forany one of the plurality of types of the apparatuses detected in thedetecting, and causing the apparatus to execute processing correspondingto the operation request via an interface corresponding to each type ofapparatus. The information processing system includes a plurality oftypes of apparatuses and an information processing device connected tothe apparatuses via a network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understoodfrom the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of amediating device 10 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of themediating device 10 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating a Processes of the mediatingdevice 10 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus list screen according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of details ofapparatus information, according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of amediating device 10 according to the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of a mediatingdevice 10 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of thepresent disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scopethereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn toscale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentdisclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specificterminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosureof this specification is not intended to be limited to the specificterminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specificelement includes all technical equivalents that have a similar function,operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. Morespecifically, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of asystem environment within a corporation (hereinafter referred to as“in-house system”).

The in-house system includes a plurality of apparatuses 20-1 to 20-n(hereinafter collectively referred to as “apparatus 20” unless they areto be distinguished from one another), one or more terminals 30-1 to30-n (hereinafter collectively referred to as “terminal 30” unless theyare to be distinguished from one another), and a mediating device 10.

A plurality of apparatuses 20 such as apparatus 20-1 to 20-n is a groupof at least two types of apparatuses 20, such as a printer, a copier, amultifunctional peripheral, an electronic whiteboard, a videoconferencesystem, a projector, or a digital signage, connected to a network N1within the corporation. The apparatus 20 may include a plurality of thesame type of apparatus, or all apparatuses 20 may be of different types.

Each type of apparatus 20 has a unique API unique (hereinafter referredto as simply “unique API”), and by calling up the API via the network,the apparatus 20 can be operated. The API of each apparatus 20, forexample, may be a web API based on hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

On the other hand, one or more terminals 30 such as the terminals 30-1to 30-m are, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personalcomputer (PC), or the like. Alternatively, an operation panel of any ofthe apparatus 20 may be usable as the terminal 30. In each terminal 30,an application program for operating the apparatus 20 is installed. Eachapplication may be implemented, for example, as a web applicationoperating on a web browser. Note that a smartphone is typically aterminal having multiple functions such as a call function like a mobilephone, an imaging function (i.e., a camera), a web information displayfunction such as a PC, and a tablet terminal is typically a tabletfunctioning as a multifunction terminal like the smartphone.

The mediating device 10 is a computer that mediates between the APIsunique to each type of the apparatus 20, and provides a common interfaceindependent of the type of the apparatus 20 (hereinafter referred to as“common API”) to each terminal 30 (each application). By providing theintermediating device 10, for example, the developer of the applicationcan develop the application by learning the common API. The mediatingdevice 10 can communicate with each terminal 30. Further, the mediatingdevice 10 can communicate with each apparatus 20 via the network N1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of themediating device 10 according to the first embodiment. The mediatingdevice 10 in FIG. 2 includes a drive 100, an auxiliary memory 102, amemory 103, a central processor unit (CPU) 104, and an interface 105which are connected to each other through a bus B.

The processing of the mediating device 10 is implemented by a programprovided on a storage medium 101 such as a compact disk read-only memory(CD-ROM). After setting the storage medium 101 that stores the programin the drive 100, the program is read from the storage medium 101 andinstalled in the auxiliary memory 102 via the drive 100. It is notalways required to install the program using the storage medium 101, andit is possible to download the program from another computer via thenetwork. The auxiliary memory 102 stores the installed program,necessary files, data and the like.

The memory device 103 reads a program from the auxiliary storage device102 and stores the program when an instruction to launch the program isissued. The CPU 104 executes the function of the mediating device 10according to the program stored in the memory 103. The interface 105 isused as an interface for connecting to the network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of themediating device 10 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The mediating device 10 in FIG. 3 includes common API unit11 and a unique unit 12. These units are implemented by processes thatone or more programs installed in the mediating device 10 cause the CPU104 to execute. The mediating device 10 also uses the apparatusinformation storage unit 13. The apparatus information storage unit 13can be implemented by using, for example, the auxiliary memory 102 or astorage device or the like connectable to the mediating device 10 viathe network.

The common API unit 11, for example, provides the common API to anapparatus manipulation application 31 which is an example of anapplication installed in the terminal 30. The common API includesmethods or functions (hereinafter collectively referred to as “methods”inclusively) related to the management system of the apparatus 20,methods related to the operation system of the apparatus 20, and thelike. An example of the method related to the management system can be amethod corresponding to an acquisition request of a list of theapparatus 20 connected to the network N1. Methods related to theoperation system of the apparatus 20 include methods corresponding to ajob execution request (operation request of the apparatus 20).

However, the functions are different depending on the type of theapparatus 20. For example, in the image forming apparatus, there arefunctions such as scanning and printing, whereas the electronicwhiteboard has no such function. Therefore, when the methods related tothe operation are limited to the specific functions of the apparatus 20such as a scan request or a print request, such method is valid only forthe specific type of apparatus 20 and there is a possibility that thecommon API corresponds one-to-one with the unique API.

Therefore, the functions of each apparatus 20 are shared at anabstracted level and methods of the common API are defined with a commongranularity (unit) in this embodiment. For example, an input request andan output request correspond to such a method. In the case of the imageforming apparatus, the input request corresponds to the scan request,and in the case of the projector, the electronic whiteboard, the digitalsignage or the like, the input request corresponds to a read request ofdata to be processed. Further, in the case of the image formingapparatus, the output request corresponds to the print request, forexample, and in the case of the projector, the electronic whiteboard,the digital signage or the like, the output request corresponds to aprojection request, a display request, or the like of data to beprocessed.

The unique unit 12 converts the called common API into the unique APIand operates each apparatus 20 using the unique API. The unique unit 12in FIG. 3 includes a detection unit 121, an A operation unit 122 a, a Boperation unit 122 b, and a C operation unit 122 c. The detection unit121, corresponding to the method of the management system, detects theapparatus 20 connected to the network N1 and acquires apparatusinformation (for example, management information base (MIB) information)of the detected apparatus 20. The acquired apparatus information isstored in the apparatus information storage unit 13. Since many of theapparatuses 20 are compliant with simple network management protocol(SNMP), the difference in the interface between the apparatuses 20 issmall with regard to the acquisition of the apparatus information.However, depending on the type of the apparatus 20, the configuration ofthe private MIB may be different. The detection unit 121 stores theapparatus information in which the difference in the configuration ofthe MIB is absorbed in the apparatus information storage unit 13.

The A operation unit 122 a controls a group of type A apparatuses 20(for example, the multifunction peripheral) via the unique API for typeA apparatus 20. The B operation unit 122 b controls a group of type Bapparatuses 20 (for example, the electronic whiteboard) via the uniqueAPI for type B apparatus 20. The C operation unit 122 c controls a groupof type C apparatuses 20 (for example, the projector) via the unique APIfor type C apparatus 20.

In other words, the role of operating the apparatus 20 via the uniqueAPI for the apparatus 20 is common to the A operation unit 122 a, the Boperation unit 122 b, and the C operation unit 122 c (hereinaftercollectively referred to as “operation unit 122” unless they are to bedistinguished from one another). However, the types of apparatuses 20that can be handled differ. Note that the operation unit 122corresponding to another type of apparatus 20 may be provided. In orderto facilitate expansion and contraction of the unique unit 12, thedetection unit 121 and the operation unit 122 may be configured as aplug-in for the common API unit 11.

Processes executed by the mediating device 10 are described below. FIG.4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the processes executed by themediating device 10 in the first embodiment.

For example, at activation of the mediating device 10 or at a fixed timeinterval, the detection unit 121 transmits an apparatus informationacquisition request to each apparatus 20 connected to the network N1(steps S101, and S103) and receives the apparatus information from eachapparatus 20 (steps S102, and S104). Note that for convenience sake,FIG. 4 illustrates an example where the apparatus information isacquired from the two apparatuses 20, but the apparatus information isacquired from every apparatus 20 connected to the network N1.

The apparatus information acquisition request may be transmitted, forexample, by broadcasting to a predetermined network address. For theapparatus 20 having an internet protocol (IP) address outside thepredetermined network address range, the IP address may be registered inadvance and the apparatus information acquisition request may betransmitted by unicast for the IP address. The SNMP may be used toacquire the apparatus information and the MIB information may beacquired as the apparatus information. When the object identifier (OID)is different for each type of the apparatus 20, the detection unit 121designates an OID corresponding to the type of the apparatus 20 andacquires the apparatus information corresponding to the OID. Thecorrespondence between the type of the apparatus 20 and the OID may beincorporated as logic of the detection unit 121 or may be stored in theauxiliary memory 102 or the like. For example, information includingitems (parameters) such as a media access control (MAC) address, an IPaddress, a host name, a device name, type and state of the apparatus 20,and the like is acquired as the apparatus information. The detectionunit 121 stores the acquired apparatus information in the apparatusinformation storage unit 13.

Thereafter, when the apparatus manipulation application 31 is launchedin the terminal 30 at an arbitrary timing of the user of the terminal 30(step S111), the apparatus manipulation application 31 calls up theapparatus list acquisition method of the common API unit 11 of themediating device 10, and a request to acquire the apparatus list istransmitted to the common API unit 11 (step S112). Subsequently, thecommon API unit 11 returns a list of the apparatus information stored inthe apparatus information storage unit 13 to the apparatus manipulationapplication 31 (step S113) as a response to the method. The list ofapparatuses is an example of a list in which the apparatus 20 related toeach apparatus information can be selected. Note that the list ofapparatuses may be acquired from each apparatus 20 in response to theinvocation of the method. Upon receiving the list of apparatuses, theapparatus manipulation application 31 displays the apparatus list screenbased on the list of apparatuses (step S114).

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the apparatus list screen according tothe present embodiment. In FIG. 5, information of each apparatusincluded in the apparatus list is displayed in a tile format on theapparatus list screen 510. In each tile, an icon corresponding to thetype of the apparatus 20, some items included in the apparatusinformation, and the like are displayed. Therefore, the user can confirmthe information of various types of apparatuses 20 on one apparatus listscreen 510. The format of the apparatus list screen 510 is merely oneexample. Alternatively, for example, a list of apparatuses informationmay be displayed in a table format.

In the step S115, when any tile on the apparatus list screen 510 isselected by the user, the tile turns to a selected state. In this state,the detailed information of the selected apparatus 20 may be displayedwhen instructed from a context menu or a pull-down menu.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the details of theapparatus information, according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6illustrates an example in which the details of the apparatus informationof the apparatus 20 corresponding to the tile t1 is displayed in thepop-up window w1. Note that the details of the apparatus informationare, for example, the apparatus information including items notdisplayed in the tile.

When one of the tiles is selected, for example, when the user instructsthe operation of the apparatus 20 via the context menu or the pull-downmenu (step S116), the apparatus manipulation application 31 transmitsthe operation request to the common API unit 11 (step S117) by callingup the corresponding method from the common API unit 11 of the mediatingdevice 10. The operation request includes identification information(hereinafter referred to as “apparatus ID”) of the apparatus 20 (thatis, the operation target apparatus 20) included in the apparatusinformation corresponding to the selected tile. For example, the MACaddress, the IP address, or the like may be used as the apparatus ID.

The user-selectable operation is an operation abstracted to a pluralityof types of apparatuses 20, such as input, output, or the like, similarto the method of the common API unit 11.

In response to the operation request, the common API unit 11 specifiesthe type of the apparatus 20 corresponding to the apparatus ID includedin the operation request. The type of the apparatus 20 can be specifiedby referring to the apparatus information corresponding to the apparatusID among the apparatus information stored in the apparatus informationstorage unit 13. The common API unit 11 inputs the operation request tothe operation unit 122 corresponding to the specified apparatus type.For example, if the specified apparatus type is type A, the operationrequest is input to the A operation unit 122 a.

Subsequently, the A operation unit 122 a transmits a control command forexecuting an operation corresponding to the operation request to theapparatus 20 associated with the apparatus ID included in the operationrequest (step S118). The control command is transmitted via the uniqueAPI corresponding to the type of the apparatus 20. Upon receiving thecontrol command, the apparatus 20 executes a process corresponding tothe control command. As a result, the apparatus manipulation application31 can operate the apparatus 20 without directly calling up the uniqueAPI for the apparatus 20.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the apparatusmanipulation application 31 can operate various apparatuses 20 via thecommon API independent of the type of the apparatus 20. Therefore, it ispossible to simplify the use of a plurality of types of apparatus 20.

Hereinafter, a description is given of a second embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In the second embodiment, those points that aredifferent from the first embodiment are emphasized. In other words,points omitted below may be the same as those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system accordingto the second embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 7, the samereference numbers are allocated to the same functional units as those ofFIG. 1, and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted.

In FIG. 7, an authentication device 40 is added that can furthercommunicate with the mediating device 10 via the network. Theauthentication device 40 may be connected to the network N1 or may becapable of communicating with the mediating device 10, for example, viathe internet or the like.

The authentication device 40 is a computer that executes authenticationfor a user who operates any of the apparatuses 20 among the users of theterminal 30. Note that any of the apparatuses 20 may be used as theauthentication device 40.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the functional configuration ofthe mediating device 10 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 8,the same reference numbers are allocated to the same functional units asthose of FIG. 3, and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted below.In FIG. 8, the mediating device 10 further uses the authenticationsetting storage unit 14 and the authentication information storage unit15. Each of these storage units can be implemented by using, forexample, the auxiliary memory 102 or a storage device or the likeconnectable to the mediating device 10 via the network.

In the authentication setting storage unit 14, information indicatingwhether or not the user is required to be authenticated (hereinafterreferred to as “authentication setting”) is stored. The authenticationsetting may be common to all the terminals 30 or may be settable foreach terminal 30.

In the authentication information storage unit 15, the authenticationinformation of the authenticated user is stored in association with theIP address of the user's terminal 30 and the apparatus ID of theoperation target apparatus 20. The authentication information stored inthe authentication information storage unit 15 may be authenticationinformation (user ID, password, and the like) input by the user, or maybe processed data of the authentication information input by the user(for example, an encrypted value, a hash value, or the like).

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating processing executed by themediating device 10 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 9, it isassumed that steps S101 to S115 in FIG. 4 have already been executed.Further, in FIG. 9, the same step numbers as those in FIG. 4 areassigned to the same steps, and description thereof is omitted.

In response to the operation request, the common API unit 11 confirmsthe authentication setting stored in the authentication setting storageunit 14 (step S201). When the authentication setting is stored for eachterminal 30, the common API unit 11 confirms the authentication settingcorresponding to the IP address (hereinafter referred to as“transmission source address”) of the request source terminal of theoperation request. When the authentication setting indicates thatauthentication is unnecessary, steps S202 to S209 are not executed butstep S118 is executed.

When the authentication setting indicates that authentication isnecessary, the common API unit 11 determines whether authenticationinformation associating the apparatus ID included in the receivedoperation request (hereinafter referred to as “target apparatus ID”) andthe transmission source address is stored in the authenticationinformation storage unit 15 (presence or absence of authenticationinformation) (step S202).

When the corresponding authentication information is not stored in theauthentication information storage unit 15, step S118 is executed aftersteps S203 to S209 are executed.

In step S203, the common API unit 11 returns an authenticationinformation input request to the apparatus manipulation application 31.When the apparatus manipulation application 31 is a web application andHTTP is used, the response may be 401 Unauthorized.

The apparatus manipulation application 31 displays a login screen inresponse to the authentication information input request (step S204).When the user inputs authentication information (user ID and password)to the login screen (step S205), the apparatus manipulation application31 transmits the authentication information to the common API unit 11(step S206).

The common API unit 11 transmits an authentication request including theauthentication information to the authentication device 40 set inadvance as an authentication request destination (step S207). Theauthentication device 40 verifies the authentication information againstthe list of correct authentication information (user ID and password),and returns the authentication result (step S208). If the authenticationresult indicates authentication failure, the subsequent processing isaborted. Alternatively, step S203 may be repeated and the login screenmay be displayed again.

When the authentication result indicates the success of theauthentication, the common API unit 11 associates the authenticationinformation that succeeded in the authentication (that is, theauthentication information received in step S206) with the transmissionsource address and the target apparatus ID and stores the information inthe authentication information unit 15 (step S209).

On the other hand, in step S202, when the corresponding authenticationinformation is stored in the authentication information storage unit 15,the common API unit 11 does not request the input of the authenticationinformation. More specifically, steps S203 to S209 are not executed andstep S118 is executed. Therefore, single sign-on is realized for variousoperation requests to the same apparatus 20 from the same terminal 30.

Note that a predetermined period may be set as an expiration date of theauthentication information stored in the authentication informationstorage unit 15. When the expiration date has expired, steps S203 toS209 may be executed.

Also, only the source address may be stored in association with theauthentication information in step S209. In this case, in step S202, thepresence or absence of authentication information associated with thetransmission source address may be determined. By doing so, it ispossible to realize single sign-on for an operation request to aplurality of apparatuses 20. In other words, if the authentication issuccessful for the operation request to any one of the apparatuses 20,it is possible to avoid requesting authentication in response to theoperation request directed to another apparatus 20 thereafter.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the mediatingdevice 10 can perform authentication for the operation of the apparatus20 on behalf of the apparatus 20. Therefore, for example, it is possibleto reduce the necessity for the developer of the apparatus manipulationapplication 31 to consider the difference in the login method of eachapparatus 20.

The functional units of the mediating device 10 as illustrated in FIG. 3and FIG. 8 may be included in each terminal 30. In other words, eachterminal 30 may include the mediating device 10.

In each of the above embodiments, the mediating device 10 or theterminal 30 is an example of the information processing device. Theterminal 30 or the apparatus manipulation application 31 is an exampleof the source of the operation request. The transmission source addressis an example of the first identification information. The apparatus IDis an example of the second identification information. Theauthentication information storage unit 15 is an example of the storageunit. The common API unit 11 is an example of an authentication requestunit, an output unit, and an identification unit.

The above-described embodiments are illustrative and do not limit thepresent disclosure. Thus, numerous additional modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example,elements and/or features of different illustrative embodiments may becombined with each other and/or substituted for each other within thescope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing device, comprising:processing circuitry configured to detect a plurality of types ofapparatuses connected to a network; receive, from an applicationexecuting in a terminal, an operation request defined by a commonapplication programming interface (API), the operation request includinginformation of an abstracted operation that does not depend on a type ofan apparatus and includes an identifier of a specific apparatus of aspecific type, of the plurality of types of the apparatuses detected, onwhich the abstracted operation is to be executed; determine a specificAPI based on the specific type of the specific apparatus correspondingto the identifier; and transmit, to the specific apparatus, a controlcommand defined by the determined specific API to cause the specificapparatus to execute processing corresponding to the abstractedoperation, such that the application operates the specific apparatuswithout directly calling the specific API of the specific apparatus. 2.The information processing device of claim 1, wherein, in response toreceiving the operation request directed to the specific apparatus, theprocessing circuitry is further configured to request input ofauthentication information to a request source terminal of the operationrequest, request authentication of the input authentication informationto an authentication device connected via the network, and whenauthentication of the authentication information is successful, causethe specific apparatus to execute a process corresponding to thereceived operation request.
 3. The information processing device ofclaim 2, wherein when the authentication of the authenticationinformation is successful, the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to store, in a memory, the authentication information andfirst identification information identifying the request source terminalof the operation request, in association with second identificationinformation identifying the specific apparatus of the received operationrequest; and when receiving the operation request from the requestsource terminal related to the first identification information storedin association with the authentication information in the memory, theoperation request for the specific apparatus related to the secondidentification information stored in the memory in association with theauthentication information, the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to not request input of authentication information to therequest source terminal.
 4. The information processing device of claim2, wherein when the authentication of the authentication information issuccessful, the processing circuitry is further configured to store, ina memory, the authentication information and first identificationinformation identifying the request source terminal of the operationrequest in association with each other; and when the operation requestdirected to the specific apparatus is received from the request sourceterminal related to the first identification information stored inassociation with the authentication information in the memory, theprocessing circuitry is further configured to not request input ofauthentication information to the request source terminal.
 5. Theinformation processing device of claim 1, wherein the processingcircuitry is further configured to output an apparatus list from whichthe specific apparatus can be selected from the plurality of types ofapparatuses detected.
 6. The information processing device of claim 5,wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine thetype of the specific apparatus corresponding to the identifier of thespecific apparatus included in the operation request for the specificapparatus selected from the apparatus list.
 7. The informationprocessing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry isfurther configured to determine the specific type of the specificapparatus from the identifier, and determine the specific API thatcorresponds to the specific type of apparatus, wherein each specifictype of apparatus has a corresponding different API.
 8. An informationprocessing system, comprising: a plurality of types of apparatuses, eachtype of apparatus having an application programming interface (API)unique to the type of apparatus; and an information processing deviceconnected to the plurality of types of apparatuses via a network,wherein the information processing device comprises circuitry configuredto detect an apparatus connected to the network, receive, from anapplication executing in a terminal, an operation request defined by acommon application programming interface (API), the operation requestincluding an identifier of a specific apparatus of a specific type, ofthe plurality of types of the apparatuses detected, on which anabstracted operation is to be executed, and includes information of theabstracted operation, which does not depend on a type of an apparatus,determine a specific API based on the specific type of the specificapparatus corresponding to the identifier, and transmit, to the specificapparatus, a control command defined by the determined specific API tocause the specific apparatus to perform processing corresponding to theabstracted operation, such that the application operates the specificapparatus without directly calling the specific API of the specificapparatus.
 9. A method, comprising: detecting a plurality of types ofapparatuses connected to a network; receiving, from an applicationexecuting in a terminal, an operation request defined by a commonapplication programming interface (API), the operation request includingan abstracted operation that does not depend on a type of an apparatusand includes an identifier of a specific apparatus of a specific type,of the plurality of types of the apparatuses detected in the detectingstep, on which the abstracted operation is to be executed; determining aspecific API based on the specific type of the specific apparatuscorresponding to the identifier; and transmitting, to the specificapparatus, a control command defined by the determined specific API tocause the specific apparatus to execute processing corresponding to theabstracted operation, such that the application operates the specificapparatus without directly calling the specific API of the specificapparatus.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein, in response to theoperation request directed to the specific apparatus, the method furthercomprises: requesting input of authentication information to a requestsource terminal of the operation request; requesting authentication ofthe input authentication information to an authentication deviceconnected via the network; and when the authentication of theauthentication information is successful, causing the specific apparatusto execute a process corresponding to the received operation request.11. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising: when theauthentication of the authentication information is successful, storing,in a memory, the authentication information and first identificationinformation identifying the request source terminal of the operationrequest, in association with second identification informationidentifying the specific apparatus of the received operation request;and upon receiving the operation request for the specific apparatusrelated to the second identification information stored in the memory inassociation with the authentication information from the request sourceterminal related to the first identification information stored inassociation with the authentication information in the memory, notrequesting input of the authentication information to the request sourceterminal.
 12. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising:when the authentication of the authentication information is successful,storing, in a memory, the authentication information and firstidentification information identifying the request source terminal ofthe received operation request in association with each other, and uponreceiving the operation request directed to the specific apparatus fromthe request source terminal related to the first identificationinformation stored in association with the authentication information inthe memory, not requesting input of the authentication information tothe request source terminal.
 13. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising outputting an apparatus list in which the specific apparatuscan be selected from the plurality of types of apparatuses detected inthe detecting step.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprisingdetermining the type of the specific apparatus corresponding to theidentifier of the specific apparatus included in the operation requestfor the specific apparatus selected from the list.